d.a.m.n, that was really expensive.

The portal usage fee was a whopping 100 million won. This is the same as telling the poor people to stay away.

But if I think about it more, I can’t really say that it is very expensive. If it is someone capable of coming here, they will all consider 100 million won to be chump change.

“What is the reason for your visit?”

A clear voice.

I had to tilt my head up extremely high to see the face of the owner of the voice. It was because they were close to 3m in height.

I came to the right place.

Shapir, the magic race.

They were all extremely tall. However, their bodies looked so weak that they would fall over if the wind blew on them.

Their clothes were also very unique. The majority of human magicians wear a robe that covers them from head to toe.

It was not to show off the fact that they were magicians. It was because they could draw in many magic circles to protect themselves, as well as the fact that robes had many hidden compartments to hide their magic tools.

However, the Shapir, although they were the magic race, did not wear robes. They were wearing what seemed to be a white bathrobe.

At the center of their body were all sorts of magic circles. But it was not just the center. Their face, hand, neck, all had magic circles as tattoos. There were so many that it was hard to find an empty part of their skin.

It is as rumored.

It is said that the Shapir tribe’s hobbies, specialty, and occupation are all magic. Studying, researching, and creating magic related items are their definition of fun and work.

That was why they spent their time testing their researched magic on their clothes, body, swords, and even buildings.

“I came to add some magic to my equipment.”

To be honest, even human magicians could add magic to equipment.

However, the magic that the magic race Shapir add to equipment is at a different level. If a human magician could increase attributes by 10, the Shapir could provide at least five times as much.

But not just anybody can earn the rights to such benefits. The Shapir are an extremely prideful race.

“The Shapir does not trade with individual humans. If you need the help of the Shapir, please make an official request through your continent’s royal……!”

The Shapir could not finish his sentence and stopped. It was because I took an item out of my bag.

It was a small wooden box.

I’m sure it already knows what is inside. Even with the lid closed, the unique fragrance of the item was leaking out.

I opened the lid of the wooden box.

The Shapir’s eyes instantly grew wide.

“This is……!”

“It is an Herb of Immortality that I barely managed to obtain. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell if you check it out, but it is about 1,500 years old. I will give this to

you if you help me out.”

The Shapir race likes Herbs of Immortality more than any other races. It is because their magic is strong, but their bodies are extremely weak.

In addition, the Shapir race probably has more money than all of the other races combined. As a result, it could be said that the majority of the Herbs of Immortality end up in Shapir hands.

However, even the Shapir have probably never seen Herbs of Immortality over 1,500 years old. The majority of the Herbs of Immortality sold on the market are less than 500 years old, so they probably have never even seen a 1,000 year old one.

“Oh, if it is this, it may be possible.”

Why is an answer so vague?

I wanted to grasp the Shapir’s mind with a bit more certainty.

“I will give you an Herb of Immortality like this for every equipment that is fortified. Of course, you need to fortify it to provide the highest level of performance.”

The Shapir’s eyes grew even wider.

“Please follow me.”

The power of an aged Herb of Immortality really was great. Especially to the Shapirs.

I headed out of the Magic Tower behind the Shapir. I made sure to take a look around at the buildings and the other Shapir citizens as I walked.

I have heard a lot of rumors related to the Shapir.

But rumors are bound to be exaggerated. That was why I only believed about half of what I heard. However, after seeing it with my own eyes, those rumors really weren’t exaggerated at all.

When people talk about the best artistic city on the continent, they tend to think about the Batoru Kingdom’s Avanguarde. The city is put together in a very beautiful way.

After visiting many different cities on my own, I have no issues with that opinion.

Well, I didn’t. Until I came here to Oolbat.

My opinion changed after seeing what Oolbat looked like. Oolbat really was the most beautiful city on the continent.

At least it looked that way to me.

There were magic circles on buildings, clothes, windows, and even the ground. Each of those magic circles gave off an aura of artistic beauty. These magic circles were drawn in a variety of colors and even letting out a feint light because of their magical properties.

Maybe it feels even more beautiful because of the mysteriousness of the magic circles.

The more surprising fact was that I felt like I was extremely light and walking on clouds as I walked down the street. Even though I was walking extremely fast, I felt like I was using only about 30 percent of my usual strength.

It was because of the magic circles inscribed on the ground. It used mana to lightly lift you up, making it possible to walk quickly without spending much energy.

In some areas, magic pushed me forward even if I was standing still. In those situations, it felt like I was sliding across a piece of ice.

I guess it

it felt like riding on an extremely fast-moving walkway?

I was surprised that these types of magic circles were all over the city. It made me really awe at the greatness of the Shapir race.

On the other hand, I also felt like it was really stupid. They made magic circles for useless things like this.

‘No wonder the Shapir end up very weak.’

The Shapir may be the strongest race when it comes to magic, but they are the weakest when it comes to physical strength. That was why they were bad at reproduction. Even though the Shapir race was a peaceful one, they had less than 1 million members.

Well, it’s none of my concern. I need to respect their way of life.

I moved about ten minutes while feeling like walking across clouds. There were many magic moving walkways every so often that I moved over 5km even though I felt like I stood in place.

“This way.”

Things progressed smoothly. I got a free pa.s.s wherever I went as long as I showed them a Herb of Immortality, and the best of the Shapir magicians were gathered to add magic to my equipment.

The items I was getting fortified were the Shadow Fox’s Leather Amor Set and Goonto’s Twin Blades.

I needed three Herbs of Immortality for it.

“Are there any special abilities you’d like to request?”

“For the armor, it would be great if it had both the damage absorption ability and damage reflection ability. For the weapons, it would be great if you could add some lightning magic to cause stun as well as an ability that will increase magic by over 100%.”

Once I finished my order, the Shapirs’ expressions instantly changed. They originally looked like they could make anything happen after seeing the Herb of Immortality, but now, they seemed to be concerned.

“It is not difficult to add damage absorption, but damage reflection is difficult. This is also the case for the magic increase.”

“Do you need more Herbs of Immortality?”

I can easily give more if they want it. If I need more, I just have to go visit the Magman Continent once more. The Magma Giant comes to mind, but I’m sure I can convince him.

But the Shapir still had frustrated expressions on their faces.

“The Herb of Immortality is not the problem. Damage reflection is extremely unique and require blood from a Golden Bone Dragon’s heart. It also needs to be extremely fresh. Magic increase also requires blood of a level 500+ golden monsters. However, we do not possess such items.”

“Then if I am able to bring those items, you will be able to add damage reflection and magic increase later on?”

“It is possible as long as you have the ingredients. If you want to put magic increase on both of your blades, you will need to bring two different golden monster bloods for them.”

Blood from the heart of a Golden Bone Dragon.

It will not be easy. It will be difficult to

difficult to even find a Golden Bone Dragon let alone hunting it.

But I’m sure the opportunity will come at some point. I just need to bring it here as soon as I hunt it.

“I will bring it over in the future if the opportunity comes up. Please add what you are able to add right now. If the levels of fortification are beyond my expectations, I will add another root of an Herb of Immortality.”

I did not care to save my Herbs of Immortality. I had as much Herbs of Immortality as I had money. It was better to get equipment with higher stats than saving some money.

Once I opened up another wooden box to show it to them, the Shapir’s eyes grew even wider.

“I understand. Please take a rest as it will take a while.”

I spent a whole day at the Shapir territory. It did not seem easy to add magic to equipment.

It was late next evening that the Shapir came to look for me.

“It has finished. Please take a look.”

I checked my upgraded equipment with antic.i.p.ation.

[Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor Set]

Armor, pants, gloves, boots, and helmet make the set.

Made with the Shadow Fox’s hide, as well as the Golden Alligator hide and Midnight Black scales.

Durability: 260/260
Defense: 136
Restriction: Level 300
*Agility +41, Strength +12
*Magic Resistance +98
*Reinforced Toughness +50

*Special ability: Stealthy Approach S-Rank, Evasion S-Rank, Stamina Reduction 20% Decrease, Damage Absorption 21%

*Special skill: Dark Force (Cooltime 1 hour)

‘Wow!’

I almost shouted out loud.

It was definitely beyond my expectations. At this rate, it was better than any armor that exists on the continent.

Of course, the defense itself could not go higher than the limits of a leather armor, but 136 was a level similar to most metallic armors.

Furthermore, it even had 21% of the damage absorption that I specifically asked for.

I also took a look at Goonto’s Twin Blades.

[Goonto’s Twin Blades: Personalized for Kang Hwi Ram]

This cutla.s.s was made by Goonto, the current greatest blacksmith in the world. Two blades were created as a pair.

Durability: 231/231
Attack strength: 101
Attack speed: 80
Restrictions: Strength 121, Agility 671, Level 250

*Attack strength is increased by 15% when used by Kang Hwi Ram

*30% chance of adding 230 lightning damage

*11% chance of causing Stun

*Special Skill: Nullify 30% of Enemy Defense (Use 50 MP)

They definitely lived up to the cost of the Herb of Immortality. The attack strength went by a lot and it also adds 230 lightning damage.

It also now has a special skill that I was not even expecting.

How great would it be if I can add damage reflection and magic increase to this?

No, this alone was good enough for my heart to go wild. I wanted to quickly call out monsters to test out my new equipment.

“Thank you very much.”

As promised, I gave another Herb of Immortality to the Shapir and headed right back to Huksen.

Since I was using portals, it took me less than 20 minutes to getminutes to get from the Shapir territory to Huksen.

I immediately headed to the Athena Temple once I returned to Huksen.

But I was subjected to surprising news once I got there.

“A Demon Cave Clearing Squad has already left?”

“You would have been able to join them if you arrived about four days earlier.”

The bishop looked very disappointed.

But that was it. Shione went with them to clear the Demon Cave, but he did not seem worried about Shione at all.

“Isn’t it too dangerous?”

“There is no need to worry. A winner from the Chaos Battle brought twenty of his peers over to partic.i.p.ate. He was the one who won the third level of the Chaos Battle.”

The third level of the Chaos Battle would mean that it was the battle between warriors from level 200 to 300.

Since it has been about a year since the Chaos Battle, their level should be slightly over 300.

That means that the Demon Cave should be over level 300. The boss monster will be at least level 400. It might even be a level 500 boss monsters.

“What did they say the boss monster was for the Demon Cave?”

“Shione predicted that it would be a Bone Dragon.”

My heart instantly sank. I then let out a sigh in disappointment.

How great would it have been if ‘Golden’ was in front of its name?

But a Bone Dragon?

Then why is the bishop so calm? Does he think a level 300 Demon Cave Clearing Squad will be able to defeat a Bone Dragon?

It seems to be my fault. They must think a Bone Dragon is easy to handle after I easily took care of the last Bone Dragon.

‘Tsk tsk, I can’t even gloat in front of the bishop.’

No matter what the reason was, I had to go in. I cannot let Shione die. Then my plan to use Harrison and Shione’s influence will go up in smokes.

“I will enter.”

“It is not possible. There will be more monsters sp.a.w.ning in the Demon Cave if we attempt to recreate the entry point.”

But that still won’t change the boss monsters.

“Those minion monsters will not be a problem. The problem is the Bone Dragon. Unless you know its weakness, you cannot defeat it.”

The bishop’s face turned pale as he listened to my story. He had been thinking that the Bone Dragon was an easy monster for its level, but he finally realized that it was not that easy.

The bishop’s voice quickly turned urgent.

“What can we do? We filled up the 100-person quota for this Demon Cave Clearing Squad as well. Even if we manage to recreate the entry point, you will not be able to enter unless someone has died.”

So, it is a situation where I have to hope that someone has died? This is quite ironic.

I guess I can only leave that up to luck.

“Let’s first recreate the entry point and see.”

“I understand. We will quickly start the process. It should be completed within the next four days.”